NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATIVE TASK FORCE ON DEMOGRAPHIC RESEARCH AND REAPPORTIONMENT PUBLIC HEARING CONGRESSIONAL AND STATE LEGISLATIVE REDISTRICTING Westchester County Board of Legislator's Committee Room 800 Michaelian Office Bldg., 8th Floor 148 Martine Ave White Plains, New York Wednesday, August 10, 2011 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Page 2 NYS Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment, 8-10-2011 TASK FORCE MEMBERS: SENATOR MICHAEL F. NOZZOLIO, Co-chair ASSEMBLY MEMBER JOHN MCENENY, Co-chair SENATOR MARTIN M. DILAN ASSEMBLY MEMBER ROBERT OAKS CITIZEN REPRESENTATIVE WELQUIS "RAY" LOPEZ CITIZEN REPRESENTATIVE ROMAN HEDGES Ubiqus/Nation-Wide Reporting & Convention Coverage 22 Cortlandt Street – Suite 802, New York, NY 10007 Phone: 212-227-7440 * 800-221-7242 * Fax: 212-227-7524 Page 3 NYS Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment, 8-10-2011 INDEX Page AMY PAULIN 15 ASSEMBLY MEMBER 88TH DISTRICT ANDREA MCCULLOUGH 17 BOARD MEMBER ANTIOCH COMMUNITY SERVICES DOUG COLETY 22 CHAIR WESTCHESTER GOP RAYMOND KIERNAN 32 RETIRED COMMISSIONER NEW ROCHELLE FIRE DEPARTMENT MARY JANE SHIMSKY 39 MEMBER WESTCHESTER COUNTY LEGISLATOR, 12TH DISTRICT ERIN MALLOY 43 FORMER PRESIDENT WESTCHESTER COUNTY LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS FORMER MAYOR VILLAGE OF IRVINGTON STEVE KATZ 48 ASSEMBLY MEMBER 99TH DISTRICT SUSAN LERNER 50 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR COMMON CAUSE NEW YORK JOHN R. NOLAN 62 COUNSEL LAW AND LAND USE CENTER JAMES D. HOPKINS PROFESSOR OF LAW DIRECTOR KHEEL CENTER ON THE RESOLUTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL DISPUTES, LAND USE LAW CENTER PACE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW Ubiqus/Nation-Wide Reporting & Convention Coverage 22 Cortlandt Street – Suite 802, New York, NY 10007 Phone: 212-227-7440 * 800-221-7242 * Fax: 212-227-7524 Page 4 NYS Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment, 8-10-2011 LAURENCE GOLDSTEIN 67 CITIZEN ROBERT J. CASTELLI 71 ASSEMBLY MEMBER 89TH DISTRICT SHARON LINDSEY 75 PRESIDENT LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS, WESTCHESTER LIAM MCLAUGHLIN 79 2010 CANDIDATE FOR NYS SENATE JAN DEGENSHEIN 93 CHAIRMAN ROCKLAND BUSINESS ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT DEGENSHEIN ARCHITECTS KENNETH W. JENKINS 98 CHAIRMAN WESTCHESTER COUNTY BOARD OF LEGISLATORS BETSY MALCOM 105 ORGANIZING COMMITTEE ACT NOW JESSICA VICUNA 122 ORGANIZER AND VOLUNTEER ACT NOW JANE DANIELS 134 CITIZEN MATT RICHTER 141 CITIZEN ANDREW A. BEVERIDGE 144 PROFESSOR AND DEMOGRAPHIC CONSULTANT QUEENS COLLEGE, CUNY AND SOCIAL EXPLORER JUSTIN WAGNER 174 DEMOCRATIC DISTRICT LEADER TOWN OF CORTLANDT Ubiqus/Nation-Wide Reporting & Convention Coverage 22 Cortlandt Street – Suite 802, New York, NY 10007 Phone: 212-227-7440 * 800-221-7242 * Fax: 212-227-7524 Page 5 NYS Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment, 8-10-2011 MONICA M. ARIAS MIRANDA, MPA 181 PRESIDENT AND CEO THE HISPANIC COALITION OF NY, INC. GREGORY JULIAN 184 PACE UNIVERSITY THOMAS KELLER 191 MT. VERNON REPUBLICAN COMMITTEE BRIAN D. KELLY 205 CITIZEN DUTCHESS COUNTY ZULEMA BLAIR 210 CHAIR DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION MEDGAR EVERS COLLEGE CENTER FOR LAW AND SOCIAL JUSTICE Ubiqus/Nation-Wide Reporting & Convention Coverage 22 Cortlandt Street – Suite 802, New York, NY 10007 Phone: 212-227-7440 * 800-221-7242 * Fax: 212-227-7524 Page 6 1 NYS Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment, 8-10-2011 2 (The public hearing commenced at 10:06 3 a.m.) 4 SENATOR MICHAEL F. NOZZOLIO, CO-CHAIR, 5 NYS LEGISLATIVE TASK FORCE ON DEMOGRAPHIC 6 RESEARCH AND REAPPORTIONMENT: Good morning 7 ladies and gentleman. The New York State 8 Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research 9 and Reapportionment begins its public hearing in 10 the Westchester County Office building. 11 We thank the County Executive, Esther 12 Reno [phonetic], and their legislature for 13 providing this forum for the discussions. My 14 name is Mike Nozzolio. I am a New York State 15 Senator representing the Finger Lakes region. I 16 am very pleased to be here with the co-chair of 17 LATFOR, Assemblyman Jack McEneny. And let me 18 introduce other members of the task force. 19 First, Senator Martin Dilan, Assemblyman 20 Robert Oaks, Citizen representative Welquis Ray 21 Lopez, and Citizen representative, Roman Hedges. 22 That the hearings will begin, this is 23 part of the LATFOR's responsibility. The task 24 force's mission is to receive public comment on Ubiqus/Nation-Wide Reporting & Convention Coverage 22 Cortlandt Street – Suite 802, New York, NY 10007 Phone: 212-227-7440 * 800-221-7242 * Fax: 212-227-7524 Page 7 1 NYS Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment, 8-10-2011 2 the re-districting process and specifically what 3 is determined to be a citizen input in the best 4 interest of this region for having the lines 5 established for Senate assembly and Congress. 6 We have asked the testifiers throughout 7 the hearings--and this is now the fourth public 8 hearing, that we conducted the first hearing in 9 Syracuse, the second in Rochester, the third in 10 Albany, this fourth in Westchester. And we are 11 taking the task force to every region of the 12 state in conducting hearings and asking for 13 public input. 14 That the--we ask the commentators to 15 focus as much as they possibly can on that issue. 16 What would they like to see structured--what 17 would you like to see structured as the 18 appropriate representative lines for those three 19 legislative bodies. Without further ado, I'd ask 20 Co-chair Assemblyman McEneny for his comments 21 this morning. 22 ASSEMBLY MEMBER JOHN J. MCENENY, CO- 23 CHAIR, NYS LEGISLATIVE TASK FORCE ON DEMOGRAPHIC 24 RESEARCH AND REAPPORTIONMENT: Thank you, Ubiqus/Nation-Wide Reporting & Convention Coverage 22 Cortlandt Street – Suite 802, New York, NY 10007 Phone: 212-227-7440 * 800-221-7242 * Fax: 212-227-7524 Page 8 1 NYS Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment, 8-10-2011 2 Senator. I'm Assemblyman Jack McEneny. I 3 represent Albany--most of Albany city and a 4 number of towns in Albany County. And we're 5 pleased to see the citizen response so far, both 6 by mail and individually--and by your testimony, 7 which is critical. 8 Now, all of these hearings and a great 9 deal of other information is on the LATFOR 10 website. And we would encourage you, if you can 11 make it down here today, or if you do test-- 12 testify and you think of something else that you 13 should have said, to continue to communicate with 14 us. All of this becomes part of the official 15 record. 16 A number of people have also drawn 17 individual maps with recommendations of how they 18 feel, either the Congressional or the Senatorial, 19 or the Assembly Districts should be drawn. 20 As the Senator mentioned, this is one in 21 a series. We are doing 12 public hearings across 22 the state, as we did the last time in this 23 legislative process. The first 12 hearings tend 24 to be more conceptual--perhaps a little bit Ubiqus/Nation-Wide Reporting & Convention Coverage 22 Cortlandt Street – Suite 802, New York, NY 10007 Phone: 212-227-7440 * 800-221-7242 * Fax: 212-227-7524 Page 9 1 NYS Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment, 8-10-2011 2 academic, because the only lines that we're 3 discussing now are the lines that we have, which 4 have grown obsolete because of the new census. 5 We will then come back at some point, 6 probably in November and December, and do the 7 same 12 hearings all over again, most of them at 8 the same spot. And then we will have, have lines 9 drawn of the proposed new districts, and that 10 tends, obviously, to be a more controversial 11 process. 12 But this is a listening tour which is 13 very real. We've already gotten a number of very 14 good suggestions from New Yorkers across the 15 state. We expect to get more, and without 16 further delay I would ask, I think Senator--you 17 wanted to ask if any of our other people up here 18 on the dais and on the panel would like to 19 comment. 20 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Thank you, 21 Assemblyman McEneny. Are there any members of 22 the task force that wish to make a comment or 23 statement at this time? Senator Dilan. 24 SENATOR MARTIN M. DILAN, NYS LEGISLATIVE Ubiqus/Nation-Wide Reporting & Convention Coverage 22 Cortlandt Street – Suite 802, New York, NY 10007 Phone: 212-227-7440 * 800-221-7242 * Fax: 212-227-7524 Page 10 1 NYS Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment, 8-10-2011 2 TASK FORCE ON DEMOGRAPHIC RESEARCH AND 3 REAPPORTIONMENT: I would just like to, once 4 again, thank our co-chairs for continuing these 5 hearings. And I have made my points in the 6 previous hearings throughout the state. 7 And I do urge the public to go on to the 8 LATFOR website and also listen to the previous 9 hearings to see the contents there. I believe 10 that we have made some progress and positive 11 directions, and I'd like to thank the co-chairs 12 for that. Today I am listening to the co-chairs 13 and saying that I'm looking forward to listening 14 to you, the public, with respect to issues here 15 at Westchester. With that said, thank you. 16 ASSEMBLY MEMBER ROBERT OAKS, MEMBER, NYS 17 LEGISLATIVE TASK FORCE ON DEMOGRAPHIC RESEARCH 18 AND REAPPORTIONMENT: I'm Assemblyman Bob Oaks. 19 I'll just say my welcome to everyone, and look 20 forward to hearing the thoughts and comments as 21 we move forward and in this process.